An Insider Account Of Insider Witness Practices: Discovering My Chicana Identity

Abstract

This thesis is an autoethnographic study of my transformation as a result of being involved with Insider Witness Practices (IWP). By engaging in a multi-vocal dialogue with “Anita”, my Mexican self, and “Hyphen Ana”, my Chicana (my reclaimed Mexican-American identity) self, I give an insider account of my participation in IWP. My study was guided by the following questions: How does my own hyphenated identity as Mexican-American play a role in my intimate connection to narrative therapy? Do narrative therapy and my Mexican culture have shared dreams and beliefs about humanity? What would happen to my personal life and hopes of being a narrative therapist, if my Mexican dreams and narrative dreams would come together? My involvement in this study was decidedly life altering and led to the return of the Mexican dreams I once had as a child and to the eventual embracing of a new Chicana identity.